Tubing Down the Nam Song

One notable feature of Vang Vieng is that it is surprisingly subdued considering the average age of visitors is 25. Everyone here is either drunk, stoned, hung over, or some combination of the above.

We had a very slow start this morning, and thought a day of cycling around might be too ambitious. So we decided to join the masses, and go inner tubing down the Nam Song river, a rite of passage for anyone who stays in this town.

We got our inner tubes, and were tuk-tuked 5km upstream, where we put in. After tubing about 5 minutes, we floated besides the first bar, and had our first beer (hey, it was past noon). The bars are not at random locations along the river, but rather strategically placed at its deep spots, where you can jump in with the help of a rope swing.

After a few practice jumps on the first swing we continued down river, and on to the main attraction, a fairly large bar with a large swing. Its starting platform was about 10m above the water, and when it swung you out over the water the first time, you were about 7m up.

As I was looking around, I realized this type of activity would never exist in North America. The combination or rickety swings, deep water and flowing alcohol would have liability lawyers salivating faster than you could say 'class action lawsuit'.

After dinner this evening, we went drinking with some other people (Steve Tracey, Donna, and Jeremy and Todd) to one of the bars. Carole eventually called it a night, and I stayed up a bit longer with the group.

After the bars closed, we hooked up with some Irish and drank some more at their place. They have such lovely lilts when they speak. You have to wonder if compulsory subjects in the Irish school system include, besides math and social studies, drinking and just generally being upbeat and funny. Does a glum Irishman exist? Even their wakes are like a big party.